Grants for 2014

The United States Department of Labor's (DOL) Women's Bureau, in partnership with DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is excited to announce a forthcoming opportunity for states to participate in a new Paid Leave Analysis Grant Program. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 guarantees job-protected leave, but not paid leave, for men and women to care for their newborn or adopted children, seriously ill family members or for their own health needs. Unfortunately, many workers today are unable to take the time off they need to care for their families or themselves because they simply can't afford to do so. In recent years, a few states have implemented their own paid leave programs to ensure workers have the economic security to meet their families' needs and to benefit employers, particularly small businesses who otherwise could not afford to provide such programs. Paid family and medical leave programs enhance job retention and help workers stay on career paths, which benefit both workers and businesses, and ultimately the economic health of your state. It is important that we learn from the experiences of states that have implemented such programs and support research and analysis to inform the development of new programs in additional states.

For this reason, DOL is planning to make available a total of $500,000 for up to five one-time competitive grants to fund paid leave feasibility studies to support the development or implementation of paid family and medical leave programs at the state level.

• Issue Date: June 30, 2014
  Closing Date: July 28, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Frequently Asked Questions (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), in coordination with the Department's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), announces the availability of approximately $15 million in grant funds authorized by Section171 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) for the Round V Disability Employment Initiative (DEI). We expect to fund approximately eight grants, ranging from $1.5 million to $2.5 million each. Applicants may apply for up to $2.5 million.

• Issue Date: May 27, 2014
  Closing Date: July 8, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department), announces the availability of up to $53 million in grant funds to be awarded under the Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) grant program and anticipates awarding between 8 - 15 grants.

These funds support innovative approaches that generate long-term improvements in the performance of the public workforce system, outcomes for job seekers and employers, and cost-effectiveness.

All projects funded under the WIF will be rigorously evaluated in order to build a body of knowledge about what works in workforce development.

• Issue Date: May 14, 2014
  Closing Date: June 18, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department), announces the availability of approximately $450 million in grant funds authorized for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant Program.

The TAACCCT program seeks to increase the number of workers who attain certificates, degrees, and other industry-recognized credentials, helping to meet President Obama's college graduation goal of increasing the percentage of adults with a post-secondary credential by 2020. The overarching goals of the program are to: (1) increase attainment of degrees, certifications, certificates, diplomas, and other industry-recognized credentials that match the skills needed by employers to better prepare workers eligible for training under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers Program ("TAA-eligible workers") of chapter 2 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. 2271-2323, and other adults for high-wage, high-skill employment or re-employment in growth industry sectors; (2) introduce or replicate innovative and effective methods for designing and delivering instruction that address specific industry needs and lead to improved learning, completion, and other outcomes for TAA-eligible workers and other adults; and (3) demonstrate improved employment outcomes.

The Department intends to make grant awards to eligible single institution applicants in all states ranging from approximately $2,260,000 to $2,500,000, up to a total of approximately $150 million. Under this SGA, DOL intends to make approximately 15 to 25 grant awards to consortia of eligible institutions, up to a total of approximately $300 million in grant awards to consortium applicants. The Department will provide two tiers of funding for consortium grant awards, based on the number of institutions in the consortium.

• Issue Date: April 16, 2014
  Closing Date: July 7, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Issue Date: June 5, 2014
  Closing Date: July 7, 2014
  Amendment One (pdf format)

The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL, or the Department) Women's Bureau (WB) and Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Office of Apprenticeship (OA), announce the availability of approximately $1.8 million in grant funds authorized by the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-530, 29 U.S.C. 2501 et seq. Awards made under this announcement are subject to the availability of Federal funds. The Department plans to disburse Program Year (PY) 2013 and PY 14 WANTO grant funds to up to four (4) community-based organization (CBO) grantees within the range of $400,000 to $650,000 for a 2-year grant period to develop and operate innovative TA projects to improve outreach, recruitment, hiring, training, employment, and retention of women, women of color and women with disabilities in apprenticeships and nontraditional occupations, as defined in Section VIII.A., of this solicitation.

• Issue Date: April 2, 2014
  Closing Date: May 2, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (the Department or DOL), announces the availability of approximately $58 million in grant funds authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Section 166 for the Indian and Native American Program (INAP) to fund approximately 170 grants—$46 million to fund the Comprehensive Service Program (CSP) serving adult participants and $12 million to fund Supplemental Youth Service Program (SYSP) serving summer youth participants. Awards under the CSP are anticipated to range from approximately $13,000 to $5 million. Awards for the SYSP are anticipated to range from approximately $1,000 to $2.6 million.

• Issue Date: March 24, 2014
  Closing Date: April 23, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)

The Face Forward 2 - Intermediary and Community grants will offer organizations the opportunity to develop programs that address the employment barriers of court involved youth while helping these youth develop the employment skills needed to obtain good jobs. These grants will help participants move forward into the future by combining the most promising workforce and juvenile justice strategies available. These grants will systematically improve the workforce outcomes of court-involved youth who will obtain industry-recognized credentials that prepare them for jobs in demand industries using career pathways.

The core project components for these grants include: case management, mentoring, educational interventions, service-learning, occupational training in demand industries which lead to industry-recognized credentials, workforce activities that lead to employment, follow-up activities, and expungement and diversion. The expungement and diversion components will be provided through the juvenile justice system (JJS) and non-profit legal services organizations. Grantees or sub-grantees of intermediary organizations must collaborate with the local components of the JJS to ensure court-involved youth receive referrals into programs as a means of diverting the youth's juvenile charge(s), and collaborate with non-profit legal services organizations to provide legal services that assist program participants with expungement.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) plans to award four intermediary organization grants of $5 million each and approximately 16 community organization grants of up to $1.5 million each, totaling approximately $44 million, to provide services to court-involved youth between the ages of 14 to 24 that have been involved in the JJS and never convicted in the adult criminal system. Applicants may only submit one application in response to this solicitation. Applicants must choose between submitting an intermediary or community grant application.

• Issue Date: March 13, 2014
  Closing Date: May 2, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Issue Date: April 15, 2014
  Closing Date: May 2, 2014
  Amendment One (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (We, DOL, or the Department), announces the availability of approximately $150 million in funds for the H-1B Ready to Work Partnership (Ready to Work) grant program. The Department expects to fund approximately 20-30 grants with individual grant amounts ranging from $3 million to $10 million. This grant program is designed to provide long-term unemployed workers with individualized counseling, training and supportive and specialized services leading to rapid employment in occupations and industries for which employers use H-1B visas to hire foreign workers. A small percentage of other unemployed and/or incumbent workers may also be served through this program. These grants are financed by a user fee paid by employers to bring foreign workers into the United States under the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. This program was authorized under Section 414 (c) of the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA), as amended (29 USC 2916a). Grant awards will be made only to the extent that funds are available.

Grants will be awarded to the lead applicant of a public and private partnership of entities that includes: the workforce investment system; training providers, such as community colleges and community-based and faith-based organizations; and, business and business-related groups, trade associations, nonprofit business or industry, organizations functioning as workforce intermediaries for the expressed purpose of serving the needs of businesses, individual businesses, or consortia of businesses. As a pre-condition to be considered for Ready to Work funding, there must be at least three employers or a regional industry association consisting of at least three employers who are actively engaged in the project. Additional partners that reflect the character and resources of the local or regional economy and the community are strongly encouraged. Finally, the department is committed to producing strong evidence on the effectiveness of the grantee programs and full participation in any national evaluation initiated by DOL is a condition of all grants awarded.

• Issue Date: February 19, 2014
  Closing Date: June 19, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Issue Date: May 20, 2014
  Closing Date: June 19, 2014
  Amendment One (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL or Department), announces the availability of approximately $73 million in grant funds authorized by the YouthBuild provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (29 USC 2918a).

YouthBuild grants will be awarded through a competitive process. Under this Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA), DOL will award grants to organizations to oversee the provision of education, occupational skills training, and employment services to disadvantaged youth in their communities while performing meaningful work and service to their communities. Based on our estimate of FY 2014 funding, DOL hopes to serve approximately 4,950 participants during the grant period of performance, with approximately 75 projects awarded across the country.

• Issue Date: February 18, 2014
  Closing Date: April 22, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Issue Date: March 20, 2014
  Closing Date: April 22, 2014
  Amendment One (pdf format)

This Training to Work 2-Adult Reentry (T2W2) Solicitation for Grant Application (SGA) provides the opportunity for organizations to develop and implement career pathway programs in demand sectors and occupations for men and women who are at least 18 years old and who are enrolled in work release programs (WRPs). Additionally, grantees must provide a strategy to prioritize services to veterans that are in these WRPs. Career pathways are frameworks that help to define and map out a sequence of education, training and workforce skills training resulting in skilled workers that meet employers' needs. Career pathways are an approach to linking and coordinating education and training services in ways that enable workers to attain such credentials, and ultimately, employment.

ETA plans to award approximately 15 grants of up to $2,000,000 each, totaling up to approximately $30 million to serve male and female ex-offenders, referred to in this SGA as returning citizens, in WRPs as authorized by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Second Chance Act of 2007. The term "returning citizens" refers to formerly incarcerated individuals (i.e. ex-offenders). Priority must be given to those returning citizens that are veterans. Awards made under this announcement are subject to the availability of Federal funds. In the event that additional grant funds become available, ETA reserves the right to award additional grants from the applications submitted in this solicitation.

Applicants may only submit one application in response to this SGA. Grantees may not expend more than $8,000 per participant. These grants have a performance period of operation of 39-months, which includes a planning period, implementation, and a follow-up period. Additionally, grants will be awarded to areas with high-poverty and high-crime rates, including promise zones that have a large proportion of returning citizens in these communities and typically experience higher rates of recidivism.

• Issue Date: February 18, 2014
  Closing Date: April 18, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)
• Issue Date: March 20, 2014
  Closing Date: April 18, 2014
  Amendment One (pdf format)

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL or the Department), announces the availability of approximately $6 million from funds made available through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 DOL appropriation for Training and Employment Services for grants to State Workforce Agencies (SWA) to expand the Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI). The Department has reserved up to 3 percent of this round's total grant funding (a maximum amount of $180,000) to provide technical assistance to assist grantees in developing and implementing their WDQIs. For the remainder of this document, reference to the databases being created under the WDQI may be called "workforce longitudinal administrative databases" or "workforce longitudinal databases" interchangeably.

Grants awarded will provide SWAs the opportunity to develop or expand State workforce longitudinal administrative data systems. These State longitudinal data systems will, at a minimum, include information on programs that provide training, employment services, and unemployment insurance; connect with education data contained in Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) databases; be linked longitudinally at the individual level to allow for enhanced opportunity for evaluation of federally and State-supported education and workforce programs; be capable of generating workforce training provider performance information and outcomes in a standardized, easy to understand format (e.g. scorecards), consistent with all applicable Federal and State privacy laws; and, lead to better information for customers and stakeholders of the workforce system. Where such longitudinal systems do not exist or are in early development, WDQI grant assistance may be used to design and develop these systems. WDQI grant assistance can also be used to improve upon existing State longitudinal systems. Current WDQI grant recipients who did not receive a Round III award under solicitation SGA-DFA-PY-12-07 and states that currently do not have a WDQI grant are eligible for this competition.

• Issue Date: January 27, 2014
  Closing Date: March 25, 2014
  Full Announcement (pdf format)